Before Eden Prime
by SyahiraSharif
Summary: Kaidan had a massive crush on FemShep in the beginning of Mass Effect regardless who she ended up with. This is why.


"What do you think the new XO will be like?"  
Kaidan Alenko felt a migraine forming under his skull and the corporal's constant chattering seemed to aggrevate it. Since the rest of the Normandy crew arrive steadily on the ship in preparation for their first mission, they found out that the absentee was the ship's Executive Officer, Commander Shepard who was on a mission somewhere. Somehow Jenkins caught wind of the XO's N7 status and he became starstruck by the time he learned about the Commander's role in surviving Akuze. From that point on, the corporal have been driving him insane and inserting every conversation with anything by Comander Shepard.  
Kaidan grabbed a towel and his spare uniform and he ignored the chattering corporal. As he headed down to the communal shower, he felt the throbing pain underneath his skull. By the time he reached over the door, he heard the sound of shower. It was a luxury to have a working shower in deep space but decontamination lasers doesn't fit well with the definition of proper hygiene. Despite all the technological advancement that the ship has, being a military vessel, it does sacrifice certain aspects of convinience like the fact that the shower and the toilets are communal. He groaned inwardly. Maybe privacy was too much to ask in a ship like this. He put a hand on the biometric scan and the door slid open and the humidity hit him. He entered through the doorway and stopped.  
A woman was standing under the constant stream of water. Her head was against the wall and she seemed to be resting as the water cascade across her back. It wasn't the fact that she was nude that he gaped. It was the bleeding laceration that across her back. "Get out if you're not coming in."  
Kaidan blinked and quickly step away from the sensor and the door shut behind him. But his eyes was fixed on the wound.  
"Is there a reason for you to be in here?" she said with a familiar accent but Kaidan flinched at the hard tone of her voice. She sounded like an officer.  
"I'm sorry, ma'am. I was concerned about your wound. Should I call Dr Chakwas to look at it?"  
"It will be alright once I put medi-gel on it," she sighed. "Then why don't you?"  
She tilted her head and he caught a pair of striking eyes that froze him.  
"I can't quite possibly reach them, can I?"  
Kaidan shook his head and activated his omni-tool. Being a Sentinel, he had his fair share of training with field medicine. When he look up, he realized that the woman was looking at him with her arms crossed. It took him a moment to keep his face emotionless and he prayed that she wouldn't hear his own racing heartbeats. She reached over to turn off the shower valve and she didn't seem to mind that she was completely naked and offered him the best view of her body before she dried herself with a towel. But he saw the wound began to bleed, he went to her and hovered his hand on her back and precede to use the medi-gel. She hissed when the salve hit her skin and then they waited until the entire laceration was sealed. He tried hard not to make a fool of himself but it was hard not to react to a naked beautiful woman and admitedly, he was using the nasty wound as an excuse to be near her.  
"It doesn't look like it will heal properly. You need to see the doctor."  
"I've had my fare share of scars and this is nothing. You don't need to bother yourself."  
Kaidan frowned at that. Although the wound doesn't look like it was new but obviously the wound had reopened and she didn't seem to be bothered about it. She covered herself with the towel and walk around him to her things. He looked away when the woman began to dress herself in her uniform. It was then that he saw a chain with dog tags hanging on the shower head. It was the N7 designation that caught his eyes.  
"Commander, the Captain wanted to see you," Joker's voice blaring over the speaker.  
"I'm on my way," Shepard dried her hair with the towel and gathered her things before she head out. Kaidan stared after her before he realized that she had left her dog tags. He unhooked the chain from the shower head and grabbed her arm. She stiffened at the touch and abruptly he let her go. He held out the chain and she quirked a smile. "I didn't realize I left it there," she took it from his hand. "Thank you, Lieutenant." With that, she left him staring after her. It took him a while to remember what he should be doing and he realized that his headache had gone away. He went back inside the bathroom. He stood in the place where the woman had showered. The steam barely dissapate and he could still feel the warmth it left on his skin. He didn't bother to undress when a gush of ice cold water rained over his head.  
Now he understand why Jenkins developed a massive hero worship for the person called Commander Shepard. Shit. 


End file.
